Dear visitor,

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Rome to Sicily RTS

Italy

This motorcycle trip goes through the beautiful scenery of Italy, with all its fantastic roads.

This one-way Edelweiss motorcycle trip commences in Italy’s impressive capital of Rome - an exciting city. Making our way through the breathtaking beauty of Italy’s southern regions, we have time to stop and admire such famous landmarks as Mount Vesuvius, the world-famous Costa Amalfitana and the buried city of Pompei outside Naples.

We’ll overnight in the quaint fishing villages of Maratea and Parghelia before our ferry crossing to Sicily. During our rest day in Taormina, you can explore the narrow, twisting streets of this beautiful hillside village, or take a gander at the active Etna Volcano by taking a scenic ride around the mountain. On the following day we travel past the old village of Sperlinga, with a middle Age castle cut into the rock. Riding north-west we reach the romantic fishing village of Cefalù by evening. A trip to the notorious city of Palermo is also a possibility.

The day after we’ll find ourselves in the Valley of Temples, which encompasses the largest collection of ancient Greek temples and ruins outside of Greece - Agrigento. Mafia buffs will want to visit the historic villages of Prizzi and Corleone. Continuing through unpopulated, hilly roads, we bisect the island from north to south, and from south to east. After seemingly endless curves with the distant view of Mount Etna always in sight, we reach our final destination, Catania, just in time for a last espresso in the Old City before our Southern Italian dream comes to an end.

The first and last days mentioned in the itinerary are the arrival and departure days for tour start and end. Depending on the country you start in, you may have to leave a day early, subsequently, you will arrive one day later back home. This is the route for the tour that starts in Rome. If you choose to begin your journey in Catania, the itinerary will be reversed. Book your flights accordingly! Route and overnight places may change due to unforeseen events.

* Please note that the dates and prices for 2016 are not confirmed yet. The dates shown on our website are preliminary dates for 2016 and might change. Also, for this tour there are yet no prices confirmed for 2016. If the tour price differs more than 5% from last year’s pricing you can cancel your participation until October 31, 2015 without any cancellation fee.

CUSTOM TOURS: For custom tour bookings please refer to the pricing included in the special tour offer for your tour. If having any questions please contact our team at customtours@edelweissbike.com !

Included services 2015

All overnights in comfortable hotels during entire tour

Breakfast every day

2 picnics/lunches

8 dinners

Motorcycle rental with unlimited mileage

Third party liability insurance for motorcycles

Comprehensive vehicle insurance for motorcycles with deductible according to the booked motorcycle model

Tour information package including safety tips, details about the hotels, the route and the sights

Tour guide on motorcycle

Support van for luggage transportation (1 piece per person) and space for passengers (limited) on entire tour

Ferry ride Calabria-Sicily or Sicily-Calabria

Edelweiss Riding Tips

Services not included

All services not mentioned as included and all items of a personal nature.

Riding hours per day

Expected riding hours per day are important for you and your passenger. Some tour members want to ride all day; others want to stop more frequently, meet the locals, and see the sights and relax before dinner in the evening! The riding hours indicated with every tour description include time for coffee stops and photo stops, but do not include time for picnics/lunches.

Normally you will start riding at 9 in the morning, with a lunch break for about one hour somewhere between 12 noon and 2 pm. So if riding hours are indicated as 6-8, you will be arriving at the hotel between 4 pm and 6 pm.

5 to 7 h

6 to 8 h

7 to 9 h

Route grading

One of the most important features of any Edelweiss tour is the right route. We take time to choose and test-ride our routes. For experienced motorcyclists, the smaller roads with less traffic and lots of turns are close to paradise, but too demanding for beginners or intermediates to handle. Riding conditions, traffic flow, local driving habits, and road surface quality all vary considerably from country to country and region to region. All of these factors go into our ROUTE GRADING determination.

If you have never been on a tour outside your home country, or if you have little or no experience riding extremely curvy mountain roads, we recommend you stay with the MODERATE or INTERMEDIATE tours. If in doubt, send us an e-mail or call!

Moderate

The whole route is on asphalt. The roads will be curvy at times, but mostly easy to handle. Even on these tours you must be able to ride your motorcycle - do NOT expect to learn how to ride a motorcycle while on tour! A minimum of 5,000 miles of motorcycle experience is required to take part in the tour, and you should ride motorcycles on a regular basis at home.

Intermediate

These routes run mostly on asphalt. There can be sections of very twisty roads, sometimes even with tight switchbacks. Traffic could be intense, and local driving habits may seem unpredictable, or even chaotic, to you - so you must be an experienced rider. A minimum of 7,500 miles of motorcycle experience is required to take part in the tour, and you have to ride motorcycles on a regular basis at home.

Tough

In general, these routes run on asphalt roads. A good portion of the route runs on very narrow, sometimes single lane roads. The roads are very curvy with quite a few tight switchbacks. There may be detours because of road construction, which will require riding on gravel and unpaved sections for some distance. Some riding days are quite long and demanding. Traffic may be very intense and unusual at times, with local driving habits that differ significantly from what you are used to. You must be a VERY experienced rider to take part in the tour. A minimum of 10,000 miles of motorcycle experience is required to participate, and you must ride motorcycles on a regular basis at home.

Support vehicles

Luggage van

A van for luggage transportation will be available. Since it does not follow the tour group route, it will arrive at each day’s hotel approximately around 5 pm. There is limited space for tour participants to ride in the van on certain days, however, the van will not go the same route that the group does.

Back-up van

On these tours there is a support van for luggage transportation. As a matter of safety this van will follow the motorcycle group on most of the riding days. Therefore, participants luggage will not arrive at the hotel prior to the group. On some tours the support vehicle is an open pick-up. In these circumstances, participants will have to re-pack their luggage into waterproof plastic bags. On some days there is limited space for tour participants to ride in the van.

Expedition van

These tours will be accompanied by an escort vehicle for safety, service and first-aid only. The participants need to pack their belongings on the bike.

No van

On these tours there is no van available. The participants need to pack their belongings on their bikes.

Tour guide in van

On these tours the group rides on its own (there is no motorcycle mounted tour guide) while the tour guide brings up the rear, driving the support van and transporting the luggage. The tour guide will be at each stop to fulfill his/her travel accompaniment duties. No tour guide on the motorcycle accompanies the group.